Getting their first job is a challenge for many low-income teenagers. Itaipu has been doing its share to change that.

Since 1988, the company has been developing the Initiation and Incentive to Work Program (PIIT), which opens the doors of the job market to young people from Foz do Iguaçu and Curitiba.

The initiative has earned the power plant the title Children-Friendly Company granted by the Abrinq Foundation.

The PIIT is divided into three technical-professional education projects: Teenage Apprentice; Teenage Beginner to Work; and Young Gardener.

Participating in the program are students aged between 15 years and 8 months and 17 years and 11 months currently in grade or high school. They work at Itaipu for up to two years.

They work after or before school hours so that their studies do not suffer, and their shifts do not exceed a maximum of four hours a day.

Teenagers receive a monthly allowance in the amount of one current minimum salary, life insurance, bus fares, meal tickets, and medical and dental insurance.

At the end of the two-year contract, teenagers leave the company ready for the job market.

About 4,290 youngsters have benefited from the program since 1988. Itaipu works in collaboration with the Paraná Family and Social Education Association (Associação de Educação Familiar e Social do Paraná), the Children's Guard (Guarda Mirim) of Foz do Iguaçu, and the National Service for Industrial Learning (Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Industrial - Senai), in Brazil, and the municipalities of Ciudad del Este, Hernandarias and Presidente Franco, in Paraguay.